Mitchells & Butler addresses ‘wine fear’

Leading pub and restaurant chain Mitchells & Butler has launched a wine range that tells customers what wines to drink with its menus, after finding only a quarter of its customers know what wines they like – and nearly 50% leave choosing wine to someone else.

The operator has teamed up with South African winery Gabb Family Vineyards on the exclusive Feast & Vine range which has been designed to match certain items on its Toby Carvery and Harvester menus.

The range comprises a chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and a shiraz which it says will help guide customers who may have little wine knowledge – the contemporary labels include an image of the animal it goes with on the front of the bottle to guided customers’ selection and tell them which wine to drink with which dish.

The survey was undertaken by distributor Bibendum, which represents Gabb Family Vineyards in the UK. It surveyed 3,000 M&B consumers who largely fell into three of Bibendum’s consumer profiles – ‘stretched spenders’, price-driven diners aged 18-80, with an annual income up to £30K, ‘suburban families, budget-conscious families with an annual income £30-£80K who enjoy eating out, and ‘traditional communities’ aged 50-80, who had conservative tastes and want value of money.

Mitchells & Butlers wine buyer Henry Boyes said the aim was to reduce consumers’  uncertainty and anxiety around choosing wine, after around 23% in the survey associated the words ‘overwhelmed’, ‘timid’ and ‘embarrassed’ with choosing wine from a wine list.

“The customer experience is at the heart of what we do, and we realised that we could help make dining more enjoyable by reducing the anxiety around choosing a wine,” he said. “After discussions with various wine producers around the world it became clear Gabb Family Vineyards was the perfect partner for this project.”

The winery has some of the most southerly vineyard in Stellenbosch, in the foothills of the Schapenberg.